by Harold Kwalwasser, the former General Counsel of the Los Angeles Unified School District. He currently writes and consults on education policy from Washington, DC.

I wrote my new book on education reform, Renewal, Remaking America’s Schools for the 21st Century, to address two concerns. One was that the legislative solutions being proposed when I decided to write the book (back in 2009), many of which have now been adopted, are not likely to bring about the reforms intended.

The second concern was that parents and community leaders needed to be encouraged to get more involved in school and school district governance. But encouraging them without giving them a handbook about what to do is a waste – or worse. It may create activists, but of the “bull-in-the-china-shop” variety, who are likely to do as much harm as good.

The research for the book centered on my visits to forty high performing and transforming school districts, charters, private and parochial schools. After almost two hundred interviews with administrators, teachers, school board members, and others, the case for heightened parental and community involvement is clear and compelling. These people’s stories also re-affirmed my belief that legislative fixes from Washington or some state capital, no matter how well crafted, are likely to have only a limited impact in building the kind of schools we want to see.